Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Slings and Arrows
- 2 Flesh and Stone
- 3 King of Judah
- 4 Tales of Loyalty and Betrayal
- 5 The Bones of Saul
- 6 Uriah the Hittite
- 7 Ittai the Gittite
- 8 David in Exile
- 9 Territorial Transitions
- 10 Chronicles
- 11 Caleb and the Conquest
- 12 Caleb the Warrior
- 13 Caleb the Judahite
- 14 War-Torn David
- Notes
- Index of Modern Authors
- Index of Biblical Passages and Related Texts
- Index of Historical Figures
12 - Caleb the Warrior
The Evolution of Legends
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Slings and Arrows
- 2 Flesh and Stone
- 3 King of Judah
- 4 Tales of Loyalty and Betrayal
- 5 The Bones of Saul
- 6 Uriah the Hittite
- 7 Ittai the Gittite
- 8 David in Exile
- 9 Territorial Transitions
- 10 Chronicles
- 11 Caleb and the Conquest
- 12 Caleb the Warrior
- 13 Caleb the Judahite
- 14 War-Torn David
- Notes
- Index of Modern Authors
- Index of Biblical Passages and Related Texts
- Index of Historical Figures
Summary
Writing in 1869, the Dutch biblical scholar Abraham Kuenen drew conclusions from his study of Caleb for the critical-historical investigation of the Bible, which at the time was still in its infancy:
If Caleb…is transformed by tradition into one of the spies sent out by Moses, and even into a prince of Judah; if his exploits are attributed by the same tradition to the tribe of Judah or to the whole of Israel, fighting under the leadership of Joshua – then, if we want to get at the truth, we must not follow that tradition without restriction; then we must keep its character continually in view during our investigations, and in preference form our idea of the course of events from the minor traits which do not harmonize with its system.
Kuenen’s formulation of the task of critical biblical investigation still shimmers with methodological perspicacity. In this chapter and the next one, I follow him in focusing on “minor traits which do not harmonize with its system.”
The Bible contains an array of legends commemorating Caleb’s exceptional valor. While some of the legends are very late, others may derive from early oral tradition. Together they witness to the kinds of lore Calebites promulgated about their eponymous ancestor in order to hold high their family name and claim for themselves a special role in Judah’s history.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- David, King of Israel, and Caleb in Biblical Memory , pp. 183 - 202Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014